Is it Legal to Sell Your Vote?

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C. S. Lewis

There's alot of this vote-selling/buying going on. Every state has their own laws governing the use of one's vote toward anything ranging from government elections to corporate stock trades. Pretty much, any form of vote selling/buying is illegal. The federal government has its own law against selling votes in federal elections, punishable as a felony. Each state has ways to govern voting, which is a right to most people (convicted felons [who lose their right to vote and have to re-register after their release] and non-citizens are the exceptions). Selling one's vote, which is constitutionally given to that person means that one person = one vote. So really, who would be able to actually buy a vote and use it anyway? If you're registered, and you vote, then the only way to re-vote, under someone else's name, would be considered fraud.

Another means to see vote selling/buying as an illegal act by the states, is viewed under the laws governing bribery. It is illegal, both locally and federally, to bribe someone into seeing things your way just to get what you want.

So what about the politicians? It doesn't matter what party they are affiliated with, anyone would be hard-pressed to find one that isn't either accepting or giving out a bribe in order to obtain what they want. The most recent example being the millions of dollars, to which the U.S. does not have, being promised to Democratic Senators for their states just in order to get that Democratic Senator to vote 'yes' to the Health Care Reform Bill. With each of these bribes also comes voter fraud. Each senator is an elected government official that is said to represent the people in their state. The current polls show that the greater majority of 'the people' do not want the government dipping their hands further into the lives of the people by saying that it is what is best for us (*points to the quote at the op of this post*). So how do the laws, that are set in place by these same people that are being viewed as breaking them, get applied? Or do they?

This is not a slight on the Dems, for the GOP has been just as guilty of doing the same in previous legislation that has passed. The problem lies within the heart of our government system and those that are elected to govern. Admittedly, since Barack Obama recently held a closed-door meeting with all the senate democrats, refusing to allow any republican senator to attend the meeting, then two days later the amendment passes with all these democratic states being promised money that was inserted into the bill, it does give the appearance that elected federal government officials sold their votes (where bribed by) to the presiding president of the United States.

Personally, I feel that since there are 50 states and each state is to be represented by 2 elected senators, that no state should be allowed to have 2 senators of the same party elected. If we truly wish to see bipartisanship, then either they would learn to work together in order to get something passed or else nothing would be done and the country would actually be left up to the people to govern. *shrugs* Just a thought.